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Two Flags, Two Haitis

This is a new Haiti.

The differences between the country I arrived in this weekend and the zombie nation I left five months ago are startling, and incredible to behold.

For a start, and the simplest of things, the airport is open. No more flying to the Dominican Republic and tramping cross country for eight hours just to get here. And when we got off the plane a creole band – a band! - played Caribbean tunes to welcome us. Immediately the heavy atmosphere on the plane, imagined by me or otherwise, was lifted.

By Conor OLoughlin
05/07/2010

A poem from Haiti

Anna Finnegan, a sister with the Medical Missionaries of Mary, is a nurse in Dublin's Mater Hospital. After the Haiti earthquake she requested a leave of absence to go and help. She has been working in a clinic run by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny in Port au Prince.

The clinic was damaged by the earthquake and Anna's first mission was to provide a safe and sanitary space for medical treatments. Anna now divides her time between the clinic and a nutrition programme for mothers and children.

By Conor OLoughlin
01/06/2010

More than just a playground

From Maurice McQuillan, Trócaire's Head of Emergencies, in Haiti.

In Haiti, Trócaire is heavily involved in supporting and organising five CFSs in three camps around the capital, Port-au-Prince. But what are they?

CFS stands for Child Friendly Space. Journalists want to know why we don’t just call them playgrounds. We don’t, because they are so much more than just playgrounds. They are also schools and healing centres and they are also psychological support centres.

By Maurice McQuillan
07/05/2010

Hope for Haitian women

This afternoon we drove out of Port au of Prince towards Gressier. We turned left up in to the hills to the small rural settlement of Petit Bocan. This is only 15km from the epicentre of the earthquake. You can still see the destruction everywhere. All buildings are damaged and many houses just pancaked into a heap of rubble. Major clearing up has taken place but the small villages still look like they  have been assaulted by a world war II scale artillery barrage  - twisted wreckages of buildings remain, heaps of rubble abound and everyone is living in tents.

By Maurice McQuillan
04/05/2010

Sisters protect the poor in Haiti

For security reasons there is a curfew so I can't travel to another organisation to get connected. Thanks to digicell my blackberry does work so at least I can use slow speed phone internet.

 3 months after the earthquake security, logistics, transport, communications continue to take up so much time, effort and energy. But if you don't have these essential building blocks in place you can't create a good programme.

By Maurice McQuillan
30/04/2010

Haiti: It’s not just about the earthquake

It’s three months since I have been in Haiti. In January I flew out alone. This time I fly out with Jenny Cornally, our Haiti Programme Officer and we will meet Sally O’Neill and Hervé Bund from the Trócaire regional office.

By Maurice McQuillan
29/04/2010

Haiti earthquake response a symbol of solidarity, writes Caritas President

By Oscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, S.D.B.

As President of Caritas Internationalis, I visited Haiti in February to offer solidarity with the people and to take aid from my home country of Honduras on behalf of our supporters.

When I arrived in Port-au-Prince, I was shocked because the tragedy and devastation were even greater than what I had seen in the media.

By Conor OLoughlin
02/03/2010

What price the soundtrack of security?

Haiti has a soundtrack. Before the earthquake, Port-au-Prince swelled with the noise of two million people in a city that could comfortably accommodate probably one quarter of that number. Then on January 12 the air exploded with the deep bass of the earth itself on the move. Then the screams and laments, the orchestra of the damned. The next day was quiet. People were too dazed and shocked to emote.

By Conor OLoughlin
08/02/2010

To Live and Die in Haiti

On a seaside road winding north of Port-au-Prince, two cars separate us from a brightly-painted bus trundling along the dusty strip of gravel. One by one they overtake the bus, their white roofs carrying with them a white burst of sunshine in the midday heat.

We move closer to the back of the bus, slowly changing gears, and get to within a few metres before we saw it. Him.

There was a man. Dangling. Wedged between the back door of the bus and the ladder that carries luggage and the occasional passenger to sit on the roof.

By Conor OLoughlin
02/02/2010

Love Thy Neighbour: Haiti and the Dominican Republic

With the airport in Port-au-Prince still not fully functional, most aid workers are getting to Haiti via the Dominican Republic. The road across Hispaniola forms a line between two very different capitals: Santo Domingo with its Caribbean charm and laid-back atmosphere at one end and impoverished, stricken Port-au-Prince at the other.

The drive takes between five and eight hours, depending on traffic, and the route is lined with aid convoys bringing food and water, tents and medical supplies to the three million Haitians affected by the earthquake of January 12.

By Conor OLoughlin
29/01/2010

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